Friday, August 10, 2012

17-Year-Old Wins $50k In LG Texting Competition

NEW YORK, New York -- LG Electronics USA today announced that
17-year-old Austin Wierschke from Rhinelander, WI won the sixth annual
LG U.S. National Texting Championship for the second time in a row. The
first LG U.S. National Texting Championship winner to claim the crown
two consecutive years, Wierschke received a prize of $50,000 for his
speedy thumbs.

For the first time in the competition’s history, LG incorporated a
special “Text for a Cause” round to benefit Cartoon Network’s Stop
Bullying: Speak Up™ campaign, a nationwide bullying prevention
initiative. The “Text for a Cause” round was hosted by bullying
prevention expert Rosalind Wiseman. Wiseman rallied event attendees to
pledge their support for bulling prevention by texting “Join LG” to
27777. For every text message sent, LG made a contribution to help
develop and distribute bullying prevention toolkits to middle and high
schools across the country.

“Texting is one of the most popular forms of communication and yet it
continually surprises us just how fast these kids can draft and send
out a message,” said James Fishler, senior vice president of marketing
and go-to-market operations, LG Electronics USA.
“But because texting is such a fast, convenient form of communication,
it’s easy for people to use it to bully and spread negativity. We are
proud to use the 2012 LG U.S. National Texting Championship as a
platform to challenge all of us to take responsibility for stopping
bullying in our communities.”

The quest to find the nation’s fastest texter began in 2007 and has
continued to bring the brightest and quickest thumbs to the LG stage in
New York each year. With every new championship, mobile technology
leader LG returns to New York with new challenges, prizes and
eye-catching text-themed events. This year’s winner demonstrated his
superior speed and dexterity, besting 10 other finalists from across the
country.

Facing off in Times Square in the heart of Manhattan, 11 of the
nation’s fastest texters put their texting speed and accuracy to the
test using the official LG U.S. National Texting Championship device,
the Straight Talk® LG Optimus Zip™. The Optimus Zip features a slide-out
QWERTY keyboard for faster, easier texting.
The contestants were required to text phrases exactly as they appeared
on a screen, identify texting acronyms, text backwards and type while
blindfolded.

The 2012 LG National Texting Championship concluded with the “Text
Attack” challenge, which required the finalists to type a series of
phrases as quickly and accurately as possible. Taking on 16-year-old
Kent Augustine from Queens, New York, Wierschke knew he would not only
have to be fast, but also hit the keys in perfect order to be
victorious.

“Hearing my name called for the second time was amazing and a total
shock,” said winner Wiershcke. “I feel really lucky that I was able to
come back this year to compete again.”